


A Place to Call Home

by ancient_moonshine



Category: Final Fantasy IX, 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Genre: Black Mage!Shen Wei, Final Fantasy AU, First Kiss, Fluff, Genome!Zhao Yunlan, Watch me bastardize everything I love, flirting and teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 12:46:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18811183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancient_moonshine/pseuds/ancient_moonshine
Summary: Zhao Yunlan - betailed theater actor, gang-member, adventurer, and professional tease, flirts with the mysterious Black Mage that wound up in their company.





	A Place to Call Home

They hunker down in the Black Mage Village for the night, a pleasant change from the Mist-drowned forest. Normally Yunlan doesn’t mind living rough. As much as he loves Treno’s bustling nightlife, Alexandria’s grandeur, and Burmecia’s gloomy beauty, he’s always preferred the woods and mountains best. Not very surprising considering how he’d grow up on the road, but the new travelling companions his father’s gang had picked up on their way to Lindblum likely preferred otherwise.

That night, the soft feather bed and warm quilt fail to put him to sleep. After an hour of tossing and turning, unable to get a comfortable position, he flicks his tail and gets up, picking his way out of the guest  hut the Black Mages had invited their party to stay in. Da Qing snuffles in his sleep. His mother cracks an eye open and gives him a stern look, warning him to _behave_ in no uncertain terms before she sighs and goes back to sleep.

Yunlan grins. He has no intention whatsoever of keeping that promise. He closes the door as quietly as possible behind him, and finds who he’s looking for easily enough.

Yunlan’s quarry – that one very specific Black Mage – hadn’t wandered too far from the hut. Right now he’s by the Chocobo enclosure, leaning against the fence while the birds coo over their new egg. Above, the dark sky is awash with stars.

Yunlan smiles when the lamplike eyes peer at him him from beneath the brim of that silly pointy hat. Unlike the drab dark coats of the other Mages, Shen Wei’s wearing the light green trenchcoat Yunlan had bought him in Treno, after he’d lost his black one during the flight from the Evil Forest. The Black Mage’s face remains shrouded by that strange black aura, but judging by the lack of surprise in his posture he’d been expecting he would be followed.

“Can’t sleep?” Yunlan begins, casually conversational. He sidles up beside Shen Wei and reaching out to scratch at the Chocobo’s head. The Chocobo gives a soft squawk of pleasure, and its mate bumps its beak against Yunlan’s hand, begging for pats, too. Shen Wei watches him. Yunlan senses, somehow, that he’s amused. That if he could see his face, he would be smiling.

“I don’t sleep.” Shen Wei says. “Neither do they. It’s why I always ask to be on guard duty.” He nods at the other Mages, puttering about in their garden a short distance away. His voice is soft. Yunlan remembers their conversation earlier. About “stopping”. 

He understands. The Chocobo lets out a mournful note as he withdraws his hand, but settles down. Her mate tucks his head under her chin, and as he watches their eyes drift shut. An odd sense of melancholy settles over him, but he grins.

“Aw. I thought it was because you like watching me sleep.” He teases. By the way Shen Wei startles, then glances down, Yunlan can tell he’s embarrassed. Yunlan has to stop himself reaching out and touching his fingers to Shen Wei’s cheek, to see if he’s as warm as he expects he is.

He doesn’t. He does have a modicum of propriety left, what Mama was able to drill into him that working for a theatre troupe hadn’t managed to stamp out. But as Yunlan allows himself to bump his shoulder lightly against Shen Wei’s, Shen Wei doesn’t move away.

Shen Wei tugs his hat down over his head with his gloved hands. A nervous tic, as quietly endearing as the rest of Shen Wei’s habits are. Yunlan grins, and before Shen Wei can stop him, he’s curled his tail around the tip of Shen Wei’s hat and tugged it off.

Shen Wei jumps and makes a grab for it, but Yunlan playfully holds it just beyond his reach, laughing. Shen Wei’s features are still shrouded with the black aura, bits of it curling up from his skin like agitated smoke, and Yunlan laughs, shameless. Maneuvers himself expertly so that when Shen Wei tries to make a grab for his hat, Yunlan’s happily pressed up against his body, with just enough space between himself and the fence that he doesn’t sprain his tail. Shen Wei’s so close that Yunlan can feel the precise moment he loses his breath in realization, and Yunlan has him trapped in his arms before he can panic and flee.

Shen Wei falls very, very still. The chocobo are unimpressed with this display of brazenness, their eyes drifting shut as they settle down for a good night’s sleep. Yunlan still holds Shen Wei’s hat teasingly out of reach while pulling Shen Wei forward.

“… Ah Lan…” Shen Wei says, trails off. Yunlan can hear him swallow audibly. The aura flickers, and Yunlan catches a glimpse of pale skin, alarmed dark eyes, and neat black hair. He holds Shen Wei fast, firm. Pressing his palm over Shen Wei’s chest, and he can feel the thunderous beat of his heart even through his trench coat.

“I don’t want you to stop.” He blurts out. Shen Wei freezes. Somehow, his round lamplike eyes show so much pain.

“Ah Lan…” Shen Wei’s voice is soft. He shifts on his feet, and Yunlan quietly looks at him, his hand still on his heart. Flooded with a sudden desperate urgency, and before he allows himself to think better, he’s stepping forward and claiming Shen Wei’s lips with his own.

The buzz of Shen Wei’s aura is electric. His lips are so soft, and so is the skin of his cheeks and chin. His hair is like silk, sliding under Yunlan’s fingers. Shen Wei lets out a rough gasp, and Yunlan takes advantage and debauches him even more thoroughly, feeling a rush of exhilarated tenderness when Shen Wei kisses back. Slow at first, then deeper. Tasting Yunlan as thoroughly as he does for him, putting everything he feels into the kiss. This is the only time Yunlan’s ever truly, _truly_ understood what the lovers in “I Want to be Your Canary” felt. 

He doesn’t even notice the buzz of Shen Wei’s aura fading, that the face he’s holding cupped between his hands has become pale, human. He only notices when he has to pull away to gasp for air, and the most beautifully, painfully _familiar_ dark eyes he’s ever seen look up at him, bright and shining with tears.

“I know you.” Yunlan says suddenly, with startled certainty. Shen Wei tries to look away, but Yunlan holds onto him. Staring searching and desperately into that beautiful, familiar face. Someone, he remembers very, very distantly, he used to call _home._

“Who are you?” Yunlan asks softly, tenderly. And when Shen Wei’s shining eyes overflow, Yunlan kisses him again.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Blame Angel. For everything. Again. 
> 
> Sorry for my absence, IRL has been stupid busier than I thought it would be. I PROMISE Peter Pan and Mermaid AU will both be finished after exams. :SHRIEKS:


End file.
